


The Unjust Calamity

by Iyearnforaplotadvancement



Series: The Ghost of Pandora [2]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Married Life, Snapshots, Time Skips, ouchies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 04:51:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20754632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iyearnforaplotadvancement/pseuds/Iyearnforaplotadvancement
Summary: “Blue tattoo, forever and ever?” He asks.





	The Unjust Calamity

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all ain't ready for this.

Krieg looks at the Siren’s face with adoration.

Well, that's the emotion he hopes he’s displaying. What it actually looks like is frothing at the mouth and wide open-crazy eyes. But Maya-the sweet, the wise- knows what he means and returns in kind.

Krieg lives and dies for these moments. He’ll kill, he’ll suffer, he’ll do anything to keep her around. His devotion is definitely blind and he’ll throw in deaf and dumb while he’s at it.

Her beauty is a thing to behold, but-.

“-Krieg, get down!” she shouts over the gun fire. Krieg turns just in time to watch her phase-lock a bandit. Her eyes seem to glow as she clenches her fists and reduces the bandit to a bloody pulp.

If his heart had a G-spot, she’d be fingering the living shit out of it.

He’s lucky that he’s insane now and doesn’t fear anything.

Even falling in love.

* * *

“Pretty Lady?” Krieg asks.

It’s a cute pet name. At least Moxxi thinks it is.

Maya doesn’t quite care for it, but she knows he’s not very articulate at the moment and answers, “What’s up, Big Guy?”

“I want to...RIP...the FLOOR. ASTOUND THE MASSES WITH my MISERY-!” Krieg shrieks.

They’re in Moxxi’s bar. Moxxi herself throws a side-eye glance at them and yells from the other end of the bar, “You tear up anything in here, you’re paying for it, Meathead,”

Maya smiles, “You want to dance?”

The group is celebrating, though Krieg doesn’t really remember for what.

“Bloody affirmations!” Krieg declares as he takes off to the dance floor.

Maya is amused and surprised. She doesn’t see this side of him. She wasn’t sure he really had one.

She gets herself on the dance floor, shaking her hips and bobbing her head. She’s sure she doesn’t look particularly ‘good’, but she doesn’t mind. She’s got alcohol in her system, she’s surrounded by friends, and they’ve hit another weapons cache.

She couldn’t want anymore.

Except she does.

So does Krieg.

* * *

They’re in the cave. _Their_ cave.

Sanctuary is nice, but sometimes privacy is a little better. Maya needs the quiet, Krieg needs the room. And even though they are both dangerous, highly-skilled vault hunters, there is safety in numbers. So they find a nice, enclosed space in the Pandoran highlands.

Maya decorates her side of the cave as she had her room on Athenas. Krieg shows her his own version of decorating by littering his side with skulls and blood and what she really hopes isn’t feces.

Through the months they settle in and she finds living with him to actually be quite comfortable.

As they approach a year, Krieg picks up painting. He’s surprisingly quite good.

Meanwhile, Maya picks up research. Every text, scroll, and book she can find on Sirens quickly pile up on her side of the cave.

They spent their evenings together. She reads, he paints.

Pretty soon, Krieg has established a large mural on the cave walls. In the scene he depicts the vault hunters fighting against Jack in an epic battle. She sees Zer0 depicted as a great a shadow of death, literally looming over straggling Hyperion soldiers. Gaige and Axton are seen fighting back to back in a crowd of bandits. Salvador lights up the mural with an explosion and a hail storm of bullet casings. Krieg waves his bone saw triumphantly over his head as he stands, seemingly leading the charge against their foes.

Maya cannot find herself at first, but then she sees it. Hovering over the battle, she glows. Her being is enveloped in a sphere of light as she looks down on the enemy.

She looks great. Serene, powerful. _Godly. _

She doesn’t like it. She’s spent enough time being worshiped in The Order.

She lets Krieg know.

At first he looks offended. Interesting, considering he’s never been before. But he takes the criticism well. He doesn’t change the mural. But the next time she sees herself painted on the wall she looks normal, natural. She looks like a person.

“It’s beautiful, Krieg,” She comments, admiring his latest creation.

Krieg stops mid-stroke. The paint drips from his fingers and onto the floor. He grunts and gurggles and finally manages to speak, “No. You,”

He goes back to painting as Maya smiles.

* * *

“UNJUST CALAMITY,” Krieg wails.

“Easy Krieg. It’s okay. You heard what Lilith said, Sanctuary’s gone, but we’re all still Vault Hunters. Including you,” Maya replies.

“Pooped out by the vengeful rictus!”

Maya’s lips twists into the corner of her mouth. Krieg hunches over and covers his face to hide himself from her. He can’t stand being like this in front of her. For one it’s weak, for another it’s just embarrassing. But Maya never embarrasses him. The gentle, ass-kicking force of nature she is, she kneels beside him and runs her hand down his bare back.

“You aren’t just a psycho anymore. Not to me. Not to any of us,” Maya assures.

He looks up from his hands and ducks his head under her chin, pushing himself into her chest. Maya knows the act of submission quite well. Krieg never apologizes with his words, she doubts he can honestly. But when they have their rare fights he’s always first crawl under her and make himself small. It’s his way of saying, “Hey, sorry I was such an asshole”.

Except he’s not apologizing for anything now.

Maya thinks he’s...begging.

He steps back from her and makes a large gesture with his arms and his hands, “A knotted gut! Two knives entwined!” he pleas.

Maya shakes her head, “I can’t stay. I have to go to Athenas. I left those people defenseless. And I have to know more about what I am. It feels...important,” she asserts.

For once, Krieg is silent. There is no mumbling, no grunting and growling. He simply paces back and forth. Maya waits and when her waiting yields nothing she begins to pack.

Her books and texts she takes. She also brings some of her favorite guns with her. Her clothes, her ammunition, her miscellaneous things can stay. She’d return some day, she’d use them again. Another part of her thinks Krieg will need it, either to use or to remember her by.

A sadness begins to grow deep in her chest.

When she returns, Krieg is sitting on a rock. His posture is the closest thing to relaxed as he can manage.

“Torn apart...from Pretty Lady,” he mutters.

She smiles as she approaches him. Her arms wrap around him. Krieg tenses. The goddess has bestowed many gifts upon him, but not any so precious as this one. He wants to reciprocate, but he’s not sure he can manage it without hurting her. Instead he’s reduced to pitiful whimpers like some wounded Skag welp.

“Don’t worry, Big Guy. I’ll be back, I promise.”

Except for the fact that Maya never comes back.

Because she never has to.

Krieg gathers all his brain cells and buzz-saws and what’s left of his wits and hops the shuttle with her to Athenas.

When they touch down they’re gawked at. But she’s a Siren, he’s a psycho. They’ve killed the CEO of Hyperion. They’re used to the attention.

Maya quickly lays down the law. In a matter of weeks she establishes a new government. In a matter of months she establishes a new culture.

If the people of Athenas had loved her before, they simply adore her now.

She converts the old monastery into a government building and makes it a place where her people can come to make a difference. As for a place to reside, she chooses a house on top of a hill that overlooks the town. It’s large, quiet, private. It’s perfect.

Maya begins to fill the home with books and texts and more scrolls than there are in the town library (probably). Krieg is also allowed to paint again, but this time Maya tries to get him to draw on canvases to varying degrees of success.

Pretty soon the house feels like a home and Maya for once in her life feels a sense of completion.

* * *

That is until Maliwan moves into town.

Maliwan buys the planet, _buys_ the planet.

Maya supports the free-market economy, but seriously?

“Die corporate bastards!” She’s the one screaming bloody murder this time.

Maya phase-locks a Maliwan soldier and throws him into another. She turns in time to catch a grenade in mid-air and throws it back into the opposing side’s defenses.

True to form, the Siren of Athenas defends her home from the corporation. She and Krieg fight side by side, killing their foes in droves. Part of her enjoys it, honestly. The people of Athenas are pacifists by nature. So it’s refreshing to return back to the battlefield.

And Krieg…

Maya watches as the psycho breezes through the field of enemies. She can hear him laughing maniacally; something he hasn’t done in a very long time. Krieg quite literally cuts a path through the enemies. Some of the Maliwan soldiers seem to loose their nerve and their unit leader calls a retreat.

Maya smiles in triumph and throws any stragglers over the city’s walls for good measure.

When the dust settles and the townsfolk re-emerge, Krieg walks up to Maya. He’s breathing heavy and he’s covered in blood and sweat. Maya thinks he’s never looked better.

“He ripped my shirt. He ripped-MY SHUUUUURT-,” Krieg holds out the fabric from his body.

Maya snaps back to reality and sees what Krieg is lamenting over. She holds the shreds of what was left of his clothes and makes a nonchalant sound. With a quick flick of her wrist she yanks what’s left of it off him and discards it on the ground.

“We got more at home,” She reminds.

Krieg does his best to assimilate to Athenas. One of the things he does is wear more clothes. He hates shirts, but if it’ll please Maya and make people stare at them less-she hates staring- then he’ll do it. He’d do anything for her.

She seems pleased by the gesture mostly.

But right now, looking into her eyes.

It seems she enjoys him without his shirt a little more.

Did her hand linger a little longer on his chest? Did he flex a little harder for her?

Who’s to say?

(But the answer is yes. All around)

* * *

The town celebrates that evening. Maliwan soldiers are retreating, the town is safe another day. Their Siren hero has pulled through once again.

But her crazed companion deserves recognition as well.

The people of Athenas prove to be more welcoming than he expects. They hail him a hero just as much as they hail her one. People ply them both all night with alcohol and compliments and while it freaks out the Big Guy so much, the Little Man is touched. Happy. So happy he could-.

“T-Thank you all,”

The bar is stunned into silence.

Maya looks at her companion with wide eyes.

* * *

Through the next few months, Maya and Krieg work together clearing out the corporate pests from their new home. Their days are spent fighting side by side while their evenings are considerable quieter. Maya’s texts begin to take up more and more of the house. Meanwhile Krieg’s paintings are becoming rapidly more sophisticated.

The house looks confused, not knowing whether it wants to be an art museum or a library. And yet it suits them so well. But it soon causes a trouble.

Maya and Krieg are soon forced into one room.

“It seems we’ve been overrun,” Maya comments one night after a particularly exhausting day. Maliwan decides to test their new line of AI guided guns on Athenas. Fortunately for Maya and most of the town, they were all smarter than the AI system. Unfortunately, they were outnumbered.

She runs her hands over the piles of books and canvases trying to gauge how much she needs to move in order to get into their little bed.

Krieg makes a noise halfway between a grunt and a yell. He drops his buzz-axe on the floor and crawls into the mound of things, tunneling his way into bed like some mole.

Maya laughs and excuses herself to the bathroom to clean up.

When she returns in clean clothes, Krieg is already fast asleep. Maya walks over to the bed and gently moves his limbs. Krieg is a big person. His tall frame barely fits on their circular mattress and moving his limbs feel equivalent to lifting sandbags. When she finally manages to make enough room for herself, she’s about ready to pass out.

Maya crawls into bed along side him.

She takes a good look at him and gently rubs his hand. “G’night Big Guy,” she whispers.

Maya rolls over closes her eyes. She drifts off to sleep but not before hearing Krieg reply, “Good Night Pretty Lady,”

* * *

Their cohabitation is platonic.

That’s what Maya tells the townsfolk. Not that it’s any of their business but she has a response just in case.

She and Krieg are good friends. And when you’re that good of friends there’s no need to have weird hang ups about sleeping together in one bed or not minding sharing a bathroom (sometimes at the same time).

No, she’s been with friends like that before. She can’t count the number of times she’s shared beds with Gaige or Axton or Salvador. And she’s had to share a bathroom plenty of times in Sanctuary.

The people of Athenas don’t get that.

They think living in a house with another person, eating meals together, seeing each other naked every once in a while (on accident), and talking about one’s feelings is romantic. Nonsense.

Happens all the time.

“Yeah, yeah, all the time,” Maya says to herself.

* * *

It’s at another celebration Krieg has a very important realization.

He hates anything that isn’t him talking to Maya.

Her airy, elegant laugh reaches him all the way on the other side of the room. Krieg can see her through the crowd of people. She’s laughing near another guy. Hopefully she’s laughing _at _him not with him. Because if she isn’t, he might have to make a scene.

“I wanna wear his skin-,”

“_That’s called envy. Jealousy would mean you already have her but-,” _says Little Man

“I’m gonna start a PARTY-,”

“_She’s not yours”, _Little Man reminds. He sighs. Krieg hates it when Little Man sighs. It tickles his brain in all the wrong places. _“It’s my fault. I know you don’t care about her like that. You’re just feeling out what I’m thinking,”_

“Fecklessness, Joe!” Krieg says to himself as he passes through a group of party-goers. The people of Athenas have since stopped listening to Krieg, knowing half the time he’s not addressing them.

“_She goes home with you every night. And if she doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. She can go anywhere,”_

Krieg stops dead in his tracks in the middle of the party. His muscles in his shoulders and arms and hands tense up. He curls up tight and when he can’t anymore his body explodes, “Need you-,” he shouts.

Maya stares him in the face. She’s bewildered.

Krieg looks around at the faces of the other patrons and then back at Maya.

“Is something wrong?” she asks.

_Is there something wrong?_

Krieg growls a little and then tries to force out the words he so desperately wants to say. “N-need you...home...now-,”

Maya asks why, but Krieg suddenly turns and stalks out of the bar and Maya chases after him.

He is silent the whole journey home. Maya asks questions but Krieg either ignores her or defaults to his usual psycho lines. She resists the urge to roll her eyes as the enter their house and Krieg still remains silent.

“Well, are you going to explain what’s wrong?”

“Strip the flesh-,”

“Krieg-,”

“Salt the wound…?”

“Krieg if all you’re going to say is that you’re ‘fine’ then I’m not sure why you wanted me to come home too,” Maya crosses her arms. She’s annoyed to say the least.

Krieg waves his arms above his head, “A GREAT INJUSTICE HAS BEFALLEN ME AND I AM ENTITLED TO FINANCIAL COMPENSATION,”

Maya is caught off guard, “Krieg, he’s a friend. And what does it matter if he’s not-,”

“-I’ll flay his corpse for Christmas-,”

“Is that what this is? You’re-you’re being all...possessive? Why?” Maya asks with earnest.

“We’re spines and backstraps, we’re livers and pancreases-,”

Krieg can feel his arms moving on their own. He watches as his arm reaches out and grabs Maya’s hand. Her hands are dwarfed by his palms. Krieg’s eyes never leave her face as he draws her closer to him. What is he doing? What is he-?

_-okay, easy does it. You don’t wanna scare her, Big Guy_

Oh, he should have known.

_Look at her and tell her that you-._

“_-_need to poop,”

Maya’s face twists up in disgust and befuddlement.

_No-no you idiot. Tell her that she’s-,_

“_-Pretty Lady,_” Krieg hisses.

“Krieg, I don’t understand,”

He growls again as his head jerks to the side. His whole body rattles as his jaw chatters. Maya’s almost about to call for help, but then Krieg seemingly recovers.

“I-I need you..._Maya,” _

Krieg doesn’t sound psycho at all. In fact he sounds _normal._

It’s like a few months ago when he spoke in a complete thought. She reaches up to rest her hands on his chest, hoping he can replicate his magic one more time. “Krieg-,”

“I...c-care about y-you,” the words come out hard and forced. He’s not lying, in fact it sounds more like he’s just struggling. “I want you to b-be mine,”

“I-I care about you too,” Maya admits.

Krieg sighs in relief and finally-_finally_\- draws Maya in for a hug.

It’s their first. She’s just about as surprised as he is. He draws back to look at her, to make sure he hasn’t hurt or offended her. But to his joy, she isn’t at all mad. She’s smiling brighter than the Pandoran sun. She draws him back in and wraps her arms around him.

This is where he wants to be, he thinks, this is where he belongs.

* * *

Krieg isn’t entirely sure how it happened but it happens.

And well-he’s not complaining.

Maya shifts under him and makes an indescribable noise. It’s halfway between sleepy and curious. Krieg looks down at her. They’re in their bed, it’s late, or maybe it’s early. He doesn’t know, doesn’t care. Maya’s eyes are still closed and she still breathes evenly, but Krieg knows she’s awake.

He confirms his suspicions when he dips his head down under the covers and places the softest kiss he can produce on her delicate collar bone. Maya giggles and Krieg peaks out from his hiding place. She looks down on him with an emotion he can’t quite describe.

But then he gets it.

It’s adoration.

Oh sweet Eridian Gods, his heart and head are about to explode.

* * *

Maya takes on an apprentice a few months later. Her name is Ava. She’s a stowaway who allegedly tried to pick Maya’s pockets.

Krieg supposes the young girl is lucky Maya is the merciful kind of God. Otherwise he’s sure she’d be a bloody mass of flesh and poor decisions.

Maya says there’s something about her that needs to be trained, taught. Krieg doesn’t know that means she’s siren material until a lot later.

But for the time being, Ava shares their home.

He and Maya spend hours clearing out a second of the house for her, letting her decorate her space how she wants. At first Ava is taken aback. The girl is standoffish to her new Siren savior and live-in..._mutant?_ Why would these strangers help her? It’s not like being an orphan was anything significant. Plenty of children are orphaned in the universe.

But the longer she stays, the more she realizes it’s because Maya is what she’s advertised to be.

A hero.

Maya is a hero of Pandora, a hero of Athenas. Whatever, Ava supposes, she’s got a roof over her head and a warm plate of food almost whenever she wants. She shouldn’t really complain. She should be grateful even.

However, despite being only fourteen and naive in many things in the world, Ava knew one thing for sure. There was no place for heroes in this universe.

* * *

“Aw, and then what happened?” Asks Ava.

They’re in her room. Krieg is draped over Ava’s bed while she is curled up on a bean bag chair in the corner.

“I RIPPED THE FACE FROM OBLIVION ITSELF AND CONSUMED IT’S ESSENCE-,” Krieg finishes.

“And what did she say?” Ava prompts, jumping to her feet.

The girl has adjusted well-as Maya predicted. Maybe with the new duties Maya has lined up for her, Ava will be less bored as well.

Krieg fumbles for words and makes a vague gesture with his polished buzz-axe. “indescribeable-,”

“Ah!” Ava shrieks with delight. “This is incredible-,”

Ava began to pace about the room. Her voice was getting progressively higher and higher as she did so, waving her hands in big gestures. The girl would do any psycho bandit proud. Krieg smiled, not that she’d see that behind the mask.

“So, where are you going? Is it romantic? Do you have the ring-,”

“QUIET!” Krieg barked, but then he quickly caught himself and looked around, “If the skag queen knows...-,”

Ava nods furiously, “Right-right,”

Krieg settles and then fishes something out from his pocket. He shows Ava a smooth, velvet box. Ava approaches it with caution and then slowly reaches out for it. Her small, thin fingers open the box and reveal the ring underneath.

Ava smiles and the bright stone seems to smile back.

The ring is crafted from gold and something else she can’t place, something archaic and valuable. The patterns on the ring mirror the tattoos on Maya’s arm.

“She’s going to love this, Krieg,”

“I’m ready for the slaughter,” Krieg adds.

A few weeks later, he pops the question.

“Blue tattoo, forever and ever?” He asks.

Maya says yes.

* * *

Suddenly four years go by and now Athenas is a changed land.

“It’s safe now, I feel like this place can survive without me,”

“The eyes of SCRUTINY live here now, Maliwan. SO get USED TO IT-,” Krieg adds.

Without anything else left to do, Maya announces that she’s stepping down from her position of governmental leadership. In her place is Ava, a young woman ready to lead her people to greatness.

When Maya is convinced that Ava is going to be just fine on her own, she begins to set her sights on other worlds, other planets. There is still much to learn about Sirens and vaults.

And…

“Hey, Krieg...” Maya begins, “Have you ever thought about starting a family?”

Krieg turns around, bewildered and bemused.

“BABY SHARK-!” he exclaims.

* * *

“Baby Shark?” Gaige asks with a questioning tone.

Maya nods her head. Her hand touches the small, protruding bump on her abdomen. She smiles at Gaige over the EchoNet.

“I’m hoping for a girl,” Maya says.

Gaige looks at her friend with astonishment. “This isn’t real,” she says, her eyes still glued to Maya’s growing belly.

“Oh it’s really real, Gaige,”

Gaige’s face breaks out into a smile. “Axton, Sarah, Sally, get your asses in here-,”

“What, Gaige?” Axton moans from off screen. “I’m trying to take a nap,”

“Take a nap later. Maya’s pregnant!”

Axton rushes on screen, his face is frozen wide in shock. “No-what-how?”

Maya chuckles deeply at her friends and keeps laughing as more people pile in and provide even more exaggerated reactions. “Well it’s this thing called sex,” Maya explains.

Gaige makes a childish face and stick out her tongue to feign disgust, “Eww-,” she whines.

“I can’t believe you let that psycho hit it,” Salvador says just out of view of the screen.

Maya chuckles again, rubbing her hand over her belly. “Hey you guys wanna come to the baby shower?”

“Is that even a question, Maya?” Axton scoffs.

“Yeah stop talking _dumb_, Maya,” Gaige adds.

The Siren just shakes her head and prepares the invites.

The baby is born a healthy girl.

No Siren tattoos.

Maya is not sure if she’s relieved or disappointed.

Part of her feels as if she’d be happier with having a Siren daughter.

Part of her knows it’s better this way. It doesn’t seem like her husband minds either way.

“So soft. SO TINY-,” Krieg shouts, “MAGNIFICENCE EMANATES FROM MY TORTURED LOINS-,”.

Maya snorts, “You’re ridiculous,”

Maya and Krieg look at the sleeping baby in her crib. The baby is named Lyra and is doted on happily by her father.

Maya is happy. So is Krieg. Their little life is coming together.

* * *

Lyra is two years old when Maya announces her second pregnancy.

Axton claps Krieg on the back and congratulates him. “You’re two for two, man,

Krieg responds the only way a psycho knows how. He headbutts the daylight from Axton’s eyes and lays his friend out flat on the floor.

His fellow vault hunters respond with mixed reactions, but no one is really upset. They can’t be with all the good news they’re receiving.

“Sanctuary III is all set and ready to go. We’re about to be space-bound, baby-,” Scooter announces with his normal level of glee. Beside him Ellie shakes her head with good nature.

“We’ve found some interesting developments on Eridian vaults,” Tannis adds.

“Sarah and I are getting married! Again-,” Axton announces when he comes to from his headbutt.

“-And I’m taking a vacation,” Lilith says. Then with a very painful sounding crackle in her neck she adds, “I think it’ll do me a lot of good,”.

The warmth in the room is infectious and Maya feels so overwhelmed with joy she feels like she’s floating.

Lyra walks up to her mom and wiggles her little fingers. “Up,” she says in her sweet little voice. Maya picks her up and hugs her tight. “Pretty soon I won’t be able to pick you up anymore,”

“Why not?” Lyra demands. Her little scowl is a dead-ringer for Krieg’s. Maya smiles wider and places a kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “Because my belly’s gonna be so big with your baby brother or sister and I can’t hold you anymore-,”

“After the baby come out?” Lyra proposes.

Maya shrugs, “Maybe? But by that time you’ll be so big I won’t have to carry you anymore,”

Lyra shakes off her mom’s logic. “Daddy hold me, then?”

Maya snorts, “Yeah of course he will,”

“Even if I get more bigger?” She inquires.

Krieg, having heard the conversation plucks Lyra from her mother’s arms and holds her tight. “Forever,” he promises.

* * *

Their son is born prematurely.

Maya gives birth aboard the Sanctuary III. It appears their short retreat has taken a turn. On route to Athenas, Maya’s water breaks.

Her first reaction is shock. The baby isn’t supposed to be due for another two months.

The panic sets in a few seconds later, followed by the fear.

Gaige is the first to notice something is wrong, followed by Zer0 and then eventually Lilith.

“Get her to the med-bay,” Lilith says already crossing the room to the onboard-com system.

Zer0 rushes to Maya’s side, her other side is flanked by Gaige.

“C’mon Maya,” Gaige says.

Maya tries to keep calm as the contractions begin to pull and tear at her insides. She tries to hold back her groan of pain as Gaige and Zer0 rush her past the other inhabitants of Sanctuary.

“Move aside, she’s having a baby!” Gaige shouts.

They get her there miraculously before the contractions get really bad and Maya’s powers go haywire.

Medical equipment, storage containers, and everything not bolted down start to levitate and float around the room as Maya’s contractions get closer together.

Through it all her eyes scan the room for Krieg. When he finally arrives her nerves are calmed if only marginally.

“I felt your pain in my bones and I envied it!” Krieg says, taking his place by her bedside.

Maya takes his hand and squeezes as another contraction hits her. “This hurts worse than the first one. I think something is wrong,”

Krieg is silent, hoping she’s incorrect. He doesn’t say anything and just holds her hand.

After a few hours and a few momentary heart attacks, the baby is brought into the world kicking and screaming like a psycho. Maya is washed over by relief.

The baby boy is placed in her arms and she takes a moment to look at him. Even though the hair is thin, she can see he’s inherited her blue hair. The fact fills her with joy. Krieg looks down at his son and gently touches his cheek. “He’ll be a good bandit skinner,” Krieg says fondly.

Maya smooths out the baby’s hair, “He doesn’t have a name yet. What should we call him-,”

“The DEVIL’S CHESTNUT-,”

“No,”

Krieg takes a minute to think, then responds, “Arsen,”

Maya snorts, “Like ‘our son’?”

Krieg shakes his head, “_Arson”_ he asserts.

Maya nods in agreement, “Arsen...I like it,”

* * *

After what seems like an eternity, Krieg and Maya return to Athenas with their children in tow.

Ava greets them and tells them all about the developments that have happened since they’ve left. Maya congratulates Ava on her work while the younger girl gushes over the babies.

Their home is the way it was when they left. It’s a detail that makes Krieg feel at peace. He likes knowing that his life is ready to unpause and pick up where he left off.

Ava has since moved from the home and into a place of her own. She leaves a lot of room for the new family to grow. Little by little, Krieg and Maya begin to clear out the house and prepare it for their two little ones.

* * *

The seasons change on Athenas and with it brings another onslaught of problems.

Maliwan soldiers, inter-galactic gangs, door-to-door salesmen. All of them have their turn and then…

“We’re coming at cha’ live from Pandora-!”

Maya doesn’t understand it at first, but then she sees the woman’s arms.

“Look mama, she got tattoos like you-,” says Arsen, a big boy already.

“Is she a Siren too?” asks Lyra.

The children’s questions seem to confirm what Maya has been thinking.

* * *

“We can’t get involved with this, Lil...We have a family to think about,” Maya says.

It’s late. Maya has been up past her normal bed time for a while. Upstairs her children sleep soundly. Downstairs Krieg is at her side, waiting to hear the verdict whether or not the ‘Psyrens’ are joining Lilith’s crusade against the Calypso Twins.

“There’s not going to be a family _to_ think about if we don’t stop Tyreen and Troy,” Lilith argues. “Maya we need all hands on deck,”

Maya sits pensive for a moment. Krieg kneels before her, his face is questioning.

“Krieg, we can’t. What if something happens to us? The kids,” Maya begins.

Krieg shakes his head and silences his wife. “Do it for the meat-bags,” he says. “We’ll guide the shiny siblings to the slaughter,”

The nonsense seems to strengthen her. She nods. Though part of her wonders if she had already agreed, she just needed him on board too.

“Okay. We’ll do it. One condition,”

“What?” Lilith asks.

“If anything happens to us, promise you’ll take care of the kids,”

“On my life, Maya,"

* * *

“Put her down!” Maya screams across the vault.

“Maya, no!” Ava screams back.

They’d been careless. Maya in an act of over confidence tells Ava and FL4K to guard the vault entrance while she had gone inside the vault with Lilith’s other, new raiders.

Zane, the relative of the Flynts, talks easily and non-stop. He lulls her into a sense of security. He reminded her most of Axton. Running missions with him were always as breezy as a tropical storm. Maybe it’s the comfort and the familiarity that distracts her just enough from hearing FL4K short circuit and their animals whine in pain.

Maya turns, bolting out of the vault and back into the entrance.

Tyreen has her hand around Ava’s neck. FL4K lays out on the floor, blown to pieces next to their beloved Skag. The remaining animal companions surround the robot. Maya doesn’t think first, she just acts. Her actions are fast enough to gather Troy in her arms and put a gun to his head.

When the other vault hunters catch up to her, they freeze.

Tyreen sneers at her sister Siren and looks at her frightened brother in her arms. “Release him or I’ll waste her and everyone else in this room,”

“Try me,” Maya challenges.

“Maya, please, don’t-,”

“Please, my sister Siren. We do not-,” Amara interjects.

“Shut it. I ain’t your sister. I’m a God,”

The conversation is enough time for Zane to set up a shot, for Amara to pry Ava from Tyreen’s hands, and for Moze to provide enough cover fire for all of them to regroup.

When all is said and done, Tyreen and Troy still manage to escape.

Maya curses under her breath, but she leaves with her life and the lives of her comrades. That’s more than enough.

* * *

FL4K is saved as well as their animals.

Lilith comes up with a plan to finish off The Calypsos.

In the end, it takes all the vault hunters, every generation.

Together they use all their strengths, power, and wit to kill the vault guardian Tyreen has fused herself with.

Krieg and Maya are once again reunited on the battlefield. It’s a lot like falling in love all over again. Krieg revels in the sheer power emanating from his wife.

“Damn,” he hears Zane say.

“Yes,” Krieg replies as he fires another magazine into Tyreen the Destroyer.

After what seems like an eternity, Tyreen falls.

But there is one more challenge to overcome.

“The moon is still gonna crash into Pandora,” Gaige says.

“We need to remove it from Pandora’s orbit,” Tannis replies.

“How d’you suppose we do that then?” Zane snaps.

“You know anyone who can knock the moon out of the sky?” Axton asks, staring at their impending doom.

“Yeah. I think I do,” Lilith says, stepping forward.

Maya’s eyes go wide, “Lil what are you doing?”

“Gonna save Pandora,” Lilith says, charging up her power.

“Lilith, there is a very high statistical chance you will not survive this,” Tannis says as if she can talk sense into her fearless leader.

Lilith looks at Maya, “Sanctuary is yours. Be ready,”

“Lilith, no-,”

Maya doubts the older woman can hear her as Lilith takes a running start and propels herself upwards into the sky.

Krieg watches from the ground, bewildered. He looks at Maya and then looks back up at the sky as the image of a crowned phoenix lights up the sky and destroys the moon.

“Long live the Firehawk,” Krieg whispers.

* * *

Everyone returns to Sanctuary, tired, dirty, but alive.

It’s more than anyone could ask for.

The Vault Hunters ask each other what their next moves are. Axton and Sarah announce a very long second honeymoon. Zer0 announces his return to Atlas Corporation. Salvador, Gaige, and FL4K set a course for a new vault. Moze and Amara set out for a new adventure in a distant galaxy, while Zane decides to stay a little longer aboard the Sanctuary III.

As for Maya and Krieg-.

“Our meat-bags are waiting for us,” Krieg says.

“I’m sure they miss you,” Ava says.

“They might have to miss us a little longer,” Maya says looking around the ship.

Ava purses her lips and then shrugs, “I don’t think so,”

Maya raises her brow. Ava smiles softly, “Maya, as much as I like being the head of bureaucracy, I think this is more my speed. Go home. Be with the kids. I’ll take care of this place,”

“Ava, are you sure?”

“More than anything,” Ava promises. “I’ll make you proud,”

Maya smiles and draws in her apprentice close, “You already have,”

When Maya and Krieg finally departure and the other Vault Hunters take their leave, Ava is in her room, setting up her things. She hears three rapid thuds on her door. Tannis.

“Yeah?”

Tannis points to the bridge. “You’re needed. Immediately.”

Ava scrunches her brow and follows the scientist to the bridge of the ship.

A disheveled and tired Lilith sits in the commander’s chair. Ava’s eyes practically pop out of her head as she approaches the would-be-dead Siren. “How?” she asks.

“Ain’t no rest for the wicked, Kid,” Lilith looks around, “Where’s Maya?”

“She went home. I-I took charge. Should I call her-,”

“Don’t” Lilith says, shaking her head, “We can call her later. Right now we should probably get this hunk of junk moving somewhere new. Love Pandora, but I’m a little sick of it at the moment.”

“Okay,” Ava says, bringing up the map. “Where do I set a course?”

Lilith shrugs, “You’re in charge, Killer. Where do you wanna go?”

* * *

At last Krieg and Maya return to the arms of their children.

Lyra holds on to her parents tightly, spouting out everything she’s done in their absence. Meanwhile Arsen shows his parents the drawings he’s made and the books he’s read. The babysitter they’ve left the children with looks a little worse for wear. But the house is mostly intact and no one’s dead-not that they can see- so they consider it a success.

Krieg, while accustomed to the chaos of the battlefield, prefers this kind of chaos by far.

* * *

Years pass and the children grow and have children of their own.

Krieg isn’t sure how he does it, but he manages to live to old age.

Maya even in her old age, is still a vision of beauty and flawless brutality. She brings Athenas into a golden age. She is one of the most famous as well as most knowledgeable Sirens in the universe and is a very beloved grandmother.

Krieg meanwhile learns to finally share with the Little Man. He cannot give him complete control, but they have learned to share and more over come to accept that they are one in the same...even if one prefers poop and mutilation as dinner party small talk.

Maya and Krieg spend their twilight years in that original house on the hill.

One night Maya and Krieg are in their living room, enjoying their short time left.

Krieg turns to his wife and seeing her wistful face and teary eyes, asks, “What are you thinking about?”

Maya turns to him and smiles, “Just how sweet this would have been if it were real,”

* * *

Krieg wakes with a start. His breathing is ragged and painful. His chest burns as he inhales.

Krieg sits up and takes a look around his room. He’s on the Sanctuary III. Slowly he remembers that she’s not.

In the cot adjacent to his, Gaige stirs. She opens her sleepy eyes and mumbles. “What’s wrong?”

“Had a dream,” Krieg rumbles.

Still half asleep, Gaige makes a sound of interest. “Oh?”

“Nightmare,” Little Man answers for Krieg.

“Try to go back to sleep. We’ll be on Veridian pretty soon,” Gaige suggests before she rolls over.

Krieg lies back down on his cot. His eyes are open wide.

_It was just a dream..._

Little Man takes over and reaches under the bed for the picture of her. 

He looks at her, he remembers the twinkle in her eyes. The shine in her smile. _Crystal clear, like day we met._

Krieg puts the picture back and stares at the bare ceiling.

_J__ust a bad dream, _says Little Man.

**Author's Note:**

> ...Or maybe you were and I just didn't have faith in you.


End file.
